Lefticus Americanicus. A sub species of homo sapiens marked by a particular intellectual devolution brought about by a failure to be taught or to learn the history of logic, reason and rational thinking. Most of this subset are incapable of grasping complex conceptual structures or of even considering that they might be in error. This tragic circumstance has been brought about because they have only been told what to think not taught how to think. They have been told that history is irrelevant, that logic and reason are tricks of the enemy. Experience and comparative analysis have no place in their world because it can result in discourse and various possible causes and effects. They have been fed lie after lie to the point that truth not only has no meaning it is unrecognizable to them. Their thought processes are so liner that questioning what they have been told is truth is beyond their capabilities.
This then creates a cognitive dissonance that causes them to lash out. But they don't lash out against those who have deliberately burdened them with such stilted and limited intellectual capabilities, but against anyone who dares not to conform to their deficiencies. They exhibit Pavlovian reactions against anything or anyone who questions what they "know" to be the truth. For them any such contrary thought must be crushed immediately not so much because it is contrary but because it might lead others to question what they have been told.
In short Lefticus Americanicus is an intellectual throwback akin to a virus that can only exist while the host that it feeds on remains alive and resisting the disease. It lives to destroy, not just the American republican model but the enlightenment, Locke, Rosseau and all the great thinkers that brought it about. It feeds on its hatred and excretes ignorance it glorifies as truth. Once the host dies the virus must as well. Such has been the demonstrated result of all forms of socialism be it fascism, communism or this particularly odious American form that calls itself political correctness.
You may be on to something. The "failure to be taught or to learn the history of logic, reason and rational thinking" could well be traceable to the absence of an adult figure who takes the position, "Now let's examine this idea in detail."
ReplyDeleteNeil Cavuto just had a female lawyer on to say how Kim Davis is definitely violating the law again when the Supreme Court has just 'SPLAINED to us that homosexual marriage is constitutionally mandated.
Well, here's a thought. The Supreme Court majority betrayed its oath to uphold the Constitution and instead embarked on a mendacious mining of it to find something that strangely had been left out of the original text and (2) to usurp the power of legislature to enact law.
It's even worse, as the federal legislature has no constitutional power to legislate on homosexual "marriage." That, along with everything else not delegated in Art., I Sect. 8 is for states or the people to deal with.
But was these obvious problems dealt with by the otherwise thoughtful and intelligent Mr. Cavuto? No. It just goes unmentioned. Ergo, national intellectual life proceeds as is with decent, intelligent, informed types like Cavuto simply fail to conduct a debate that addresses all the logical possibilities. Instead, we had a tutorial on the infallibility of Supreme Court and the irrational naughtiness of Kim Davis.
Bastiat liked the idea of focusing on what is unseen in making an economic analysis. It's not exactly a new problem. Maybe we're missing the point. It's not that anything is happening now is new. The limited scope and abilities of humans at all time have always been an issue. It's just that today the opinion of amateurs and the ill informed matter a lot more in this day of no aristocrats. The idiocy really began with the Reformation when zealots got their hands on Bibles in the vernacular and did what humans do best -- expand a chance phrase into a whole new way of life.